Justice in Judgement

Salaams and Peace & Blessings upon us all

I had been pondering upon something for a long time. Being exposed to gossip and bad opinions and overly good opinions. I was concerned how such notions would have such strong effects upon individuals and groups, towards one another and upon themselves. In other words, I feared how me having a bad opinion of someone made me more likely to be unjust, unfair and thus neglectful of my duty towards them. Yet also, me having an overly high opinion of someone, may blind me, making me neglect myself and others too, but being unjust and unfair in this respect also.

So here I shall divulge some of my meanderings and I would ask anyone, to please give their opinions and any knowledge/wisdom they have freely. So that it may aid me in my thinking around this subject to come to some formalised conclusion on the topic.

Bismillah Hir Rahman nir Raheem.


To judge is Allah's right and only Allah is perfected and absolute in it.

Thus Shariah is the guide to judge, the Quran also meaning "Criterion" & also the life and Sunnah of Rasul(SAW) as the best example of being one who held judgement, yet fulfilled all duties and was the most just.

We do not ever have complete knowledge of anything, that is with Allah alone. Yet we must judge and naturally we will. Our first duty is thus not to forget how lacking we are to make judgements.

It would be difficult to act and interact in this world without making judgements. Judgements are like measurements and every action can be measured and should be measured. So one must judge in order to act, to decide what to do and not to do, when, how, where & why. The 'why' relates to intentions & all actions are based upon it.

Our actions are made righteous by being based on our correct belief. Now if our belief is not correct and our certainty of our belief is not 100%, then our judgements & actions are at stake. The worst scenario is having baseless judgements and actions, which with belief we should be far from.
Yet are we not making judgements in what and how to believe? Thus as already addressed our capability in judging is not perfect when based on our own devices, we are therefore in need of other than our own selves. Hence guidance must be sought and Prophecy is necessitated.

In judging people, one may make bias their actions and reactions to such an extent from such judgements so as to neglect the duties owed to people.

This is why we are meant to offer "benefit of the doubt" to others, as we can not know them like we know our own selves. Remember, even with our own selves we struggle to understand and know ourselves. How we know ourselves paints how we see others. We compare others to ourselves to know them. Thus some people who really don't like things about themselves, when they see it in others they tend to not like such others. When we see things we like in our selves, we like to see it in others and thus are attracted to such people.

Though we may know people whom we have shared a great deal in terms of experience, knowledge, tastes and opinions; these can never be exact. Though each one of us judge according to the devices we have, we are gifted with being able to richly communicate with one another, share, express, challenge and correct judgements of one another. This thus makes clear the great importance communication plays in our lives. Know that gossip is the lowest form of communication, it rather distorts and destroys communication, rather than aid its useful purposes.

So rather, I propose a solution. When we have judgements of people, to know that we are lacking, so not to take them to heart. Whenever possible, to be open and honest with each other, so that false inaccurate judgements are done away with. If that can not be done, then to have benefit of the doubt. If still, you can not directly communicate with a person and still can not give them the benefit of the doubt. Then speak to Sheikh. It may be that you are on to something and something needs to be done about that person. Or it may be that you have a disease in your own heart and it needs to be removed.

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"Yet also, me having an overly high opinion of someone, may blind me, making me neglect myself and others too, but being unjust and unfair in this respect also"
Some people get more praise than they deserve. This is fine, and certainly better than blaming. Praise is a good thing. However, when we go beyond and start to almost attribute things to them that they do not deserve, such as worship and unquestioned devotion.

For instance, why will I forgive a friend easier than a stranger or someone who I don't like?

Say for instance, I have a car to go to class/lesson, the first people I think of, will most naturally be my friends perhaps. Now surely I should be seeking who is more in need, and not forget those in more need of a lift than my friends, especially when we find certain people to be boring or even "smelly" for the journey.

It is good to have friends and have them close to you more than others. But we should not forget others who may be in more need or have more right to a thing.

This sort of thing is what I am talking about, when I fear my high opinion of someone, may blind me, making me neglect myself and others, in regards to when others are more in need or more deserving.

When in a crowd or gathering, it is good to want to spend time with your close friends, but do not neglect those who have no friends present or new people who don't know anyone. These are perhaps more in need of our company than our friends.

These are subtle things indeed and know that it is not as bad as blaming someone, to over praise someone. It is just about keeping it all in context of Justice and Duty.

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I thank you for reading this, and I look forward to your responses.